Genre Essays

An anonymous author once stated, “There are times in everyone’s life when something constructive is born out of adversity when things seem so bad that you’ve got to grab your fate by the shoulders and shake it. ” This quote states that life often hands us struggles that we must overcome. Some are often easy […]

In ‘Mid-Term Break’ by Seamus Heaney and ‘The Lesson’ by Edward Lucie-Smith a similar impact is achieved through alternative means; Heaney uses language to set up a contrast whereas Lucie-Smith uses irony. Both techniques are striking and subtly interwoven throughout the poems, in order to describe the devastating theme of death from a child’s perspective. […]

Judith Ortiz Cofer, a native of Puerto Rico center her work of art on biculturalism and creative process in lieu of her belief in freedom of expression and in the need to propagate the literature and ability of the many people contributing to the culture of their realm. The author expounds the meaning of Quinceanera […]

Our modern times today pronounce that there should be equality amongst men, that there ought to be democracy and justice that transcends the restrictions of race, color, and ethnicity. But before the rise of such contemporary ideas and thoughts, it was apparent that discrimination owing to race and specifically color was present. During those times, […]

“Song of Green Mountain” is one of the Koryo poems from The Columbia Anthology of Traditional Korean Poetry. Although it was my first time to read it, I previously heard about the poem when I was still attending schools in Korea and knew it was a famous poem from the Koryo period. When I first […]

Generally, the mood of the poem, The Husband’s Message, is a sense of incompleteness or sadness and profound love. The poem tells the story of a man who was exiled from his homeland and forced to leave his wife because of a certain “feud. ” After the “feud” ends, the man then carves a message […]

The poem, The Husband’s Message, is not an epic poem because it lacks the characteristics that are essential to an epic poem. One of the basic characteristics of an epic poem is that the main protagonist or the hero should generally be “larger than life” and possess traits that can make him a legend someday. […]

When the characters of District 6 are analysed superficially they are not admirable. Mary is a prostitute; Zoot has a criminal record and beats people up. And Mrs Knight goes to church every Sunday and is happily married with 3 children. If you judge these people superficially, you would think Mrs Knight would be the […]

In William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury one character unifies the story, Caddy Compson. She is central to the story and Faulkner himself said that Caddy was what he “wrote the book about” (“Class Conference” 236). However many of the criticism’s of the novel find Caddy less interesting than Faulkner’s other characters: Quentin, Jason, […]

Cathy Song’s poem entitled “Stamp Collecting” is an illustration of culture of several countries. The narrator discussed the use of stamps – to sell tourism in a country. The narrator gave various examples to justify the claim. She shows that stamp collecting is a depiction of cultural heritage. Not just a simple part of the […]

The first stanza of the poem “They ask me for verses”, speaks of the time when Jose Rizal was writing this poem. In the first stanza Jose Rizal used a lyre to symbolize his writing; The members of the society requested him to write a poem, even though he doesn’t find it easy to write […]

Ted Hughes’ poem ‘The Jaguar’ describes the animals in a zoo and their lifestyles. It also compares them to the jaguar, which is an animal that lives very differently to the others because of the way it views its life. Yet how does the poem depict the jaguar as a powerful and free animal? The […]

The Analysis of Marge Piercy’s “A Work of Artifice” Marge Piercy’s “A Work of Artifice” is a poem that begins in a simple manner, but unfolds into a more complex statement about the oppression of women. Marge Piercy, a feminist, struggled to have her work published, but at age sixty-three her dreams finally came through […]

Infamous for her use of oven gas for a method of suicide while her children were at play, Sylvia Plath was an American confessional poet, novelist and short story writer. After suffering from depression from the age of 20 and a marital separation, Plath committed suicide in 1963. Controversy continues to surround the events of […]

In the dictionary ‘Le Petit Larousse 2003’ literature is defined as a field embracing written and oral works to which an aesthetic aim is acknowledged. This definition upholds the assertion that African literature has ever existed in the oral form. African forms of literature are interesting not only as far as anthropological perspectives are concerned, […]

Often known as the “lucky country,” Australia is a stable and democratic society. It holds the title as the largest island on Earth and is inhabited by one of the oldest living cultures worldwide. With its diverse landscapes, ranging from tropical rainforests up north, deserts in the Red Centre, to snowfields down southeast, Australia showcases […]

The main focus of “Footnote to Youth” is teenage marriage. This story highlights the prevalent issue of love and being in love, which encompasses various aspects of life that we should be mindful of. It suggests that marrying at a young age should be carefully considered due to the current state of society, as one […]

The poem is written in the form of a ballad, traditionally sung with short and regular stanzas that convey a short yet deeply significant story. While Yeats’s poems typically do not express religious themes, this particular poem does. Although Yeats himself was a protestant who later embraced theosophy and mysticism, the tone of this poem […]

The film’s theme centers around Love, depicting Dante’s unwavering love and the sacrifices he made for Beatrice. Throughout the film, Dante’s actions solely revolve around Beatrice. Additionally, love is portrayed not only through Beatrice but also through Dante’s exploration of the concept that hell may have been formed out of love. In contrast, the epic […]

Come I’ve with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove That valleys, groves, hills, and fields Woods or steepy mountain yieldsAnd we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. And I will make thee beds of […]

When assigned to read the short stories in class to summarize and learn to paraphrase, there was one story in particular that emotionally touched me. This short story was “And of Clay Are We Created” by Isabell Allende. I found many great points that could be discussed about the story, and that is why I […]

Dylan Thomas’ poem, “Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night”, is written as a dramatic monologue. It is a brief poem with nineteen lines, divided into six stanzas. He communicates with his audience through alliteration and the consistent repetition of the last line of each stanza. Through a combination of literary elements, Thomas is […]